Ficano speech to focus on Wayne County debt, successes

Feb. 18, 2014

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

When Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano presents his State of the County address today, much of his speech will deal with the plan presented to commissioners last week to eliminate about $200 million in debt, as well as “a lot of successes that don’t make the 6 o’clock news.”

“If you’re going to call Michigan the comeback state, you’ve got to call Wayne County the comeback county because of the investments made here,” Ficano said Monday. “It’s not how you get knocked down, it’s how you get up that counts.”

Ficano said the county continued to lead the way for the state in the way of economic development and job creation. According to the Michigan Economic Development Corp., about 38% of all investment in the state has taken place in Wayne County since 2009, along with 43% of the jobs created in the state.

Wayne County officials said since the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2011, the county has attracted more than $1.3 billion in new investments.

Ficano said he plans to touch on transparency in county government as well, but said he didn’t want to give away everything in his speech.

Ficano’s administration has been rocked with scandal involving corruption by some of his appointees, leading to several indictments and guilty pleas. The latest came Friday when former chief information officer Tahir Kazmi was sentenced to 57 months for accepting bribes from an IT vendor. Ficano has not been charged in the federal investigation and has said repeatedly that he’s done nothing wrong.

Much attention will be focused on what he says about the debt-elimination plan that includes spinning off the county’s wastewater treatment facilities, using $81 million in delinquent tax revolving fund dollars for general fund expenditures and changing how much the county kicks into employee pensions. The plan also would cut out operational inefficiencies and lower-priority services by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office.

Mark Abbo, the county’s chief financial officer, said the county faced a deficit of $175 million as of Sept. 30. Estimates from others have put that figure as high as $225 million. Under the plan, Abbo said, the county could be operating with a substantial surplus by September 2015, the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year.

The plan would have to be approved by the County Commission as well as receive state approval. Commissioners’ opinion of the plan ranged from lofty to creative, with many hoping something can be done to formulate a plan agreed upon at all levels to avoid state intervention. The commission will meet again at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss items in the plan.

Officials from state Treasurer Kevin Clinton’s office said the county has been in constant contact with them about the county’s financial woes.

“These problems are solvable,” Ficano said. “It’s a matter of not letting the politics and the grandstanding get in the way.”